


Je Serai Votre Abri (I'll Be Your Shelter)

by twinklukeskywalker



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Kid Fic, Kinda, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, are you ready to SUFFER, i just finished the first chapter, idk - Freeform, its gonna be angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-19 14:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7364455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinklukeskywalker/pseuds/twinklukeskywalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexander Hamilton is riding high. Three kids, a wonderful wife, and the job of his dreams. And then someone on his doorstep unearths old, buried memories and lost loves and turns his family life upside down. And then he finds out just who his daughter is dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Le Début

Whoever says that Alexander Hamilton isn’t happy with his life is a liar. How could he not be happy, after all? He is the Treasury Secretary, one of Washington’s most trusted, and he is married to the most lovely woman, Eliza, who runs the foremost orphanage and adoption agency in D.C. His oldest son Philip is off at Columbia, nineteen, an honors student, and in a relationship with one Theodosia Burr, much to Alexander’s (private) displeasure. His other two children, Angie and AJ, are enrolled in the top private school in the District, with Angie about to graduate and AJ a rising star on the debate team. So, yes, his life is just as he should envision. 

 

Alexander is held up at the office, naturally. It was some complaint from Jefferson about about whatever Alex was doing that supposedly encroached on State Department territory, which, like he said to Jefferson, was complete bullshit, and that if it involved the nation’s finances it was his territory and no, he didn’t care if it was State Department. 

 

“He can go and shove his bill up his ass,” he mumbled as he fumbled with his keys while juggling his papers, phone, and a grocery list from Eliza. Angelica and Peggy, Peggy with her brand new girlfriend, were coming to visit, and Eliza had to get AJ from debate. 

 

“You should be careful with your language,  _ Alexandre _ , there are children around.” Alex jumped violently and spilled his papers all over the ground by the driver’s side door. 

 

“Jesus  _ fucking _ Christ, Laf, don’t sneak up on me like that. I could have killed someone. And there are no kids for miles around, excuse you.” 

 

Lafayette smiled a mile wide smile, bright white teeth contrasting perfectly with his dark skin and peered over the hood of the car.

“Be careful ‘ow you talk to your superiors _ petit lion _ ,” he smirked, his substantial hair quivering slightly. Honestly, the man seemed to practically bounce, and all the damn time too. It was a wonder he had any energy to do anything else. Speaking of which…

 

“Lafayette, just because you are banging the president doesn’t mean that you are my superior. I knew you in college when you were still lusting after him as the hot history professor and I caught you in his office that one time that we don’t talk about.”

 

Naturally, this doesn’t phase Lafayette, who, Alex knows, has receipts on him that would last him for days. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

 

“Oh I’m just ‘ere to deliver a message from George, and then I ‘ave to leave. ‘e has reservations for dinner tonight-”

 

“Lafayette, as much as I’d like to hear all about your plans to make everybody else in the restaurant uncomfortable, I’ve got shit to do for Eliza, so could you hurry up? And can’t he text me?” 

 

“Oh of course. But George wants that proposal of yours on ‘is desk by Monday, and wants you and Jefferson to kiss and make up because there’s a press conference on Tuesday and ‘e doesn’t want a murder on national television.”

 

“Jefferson can kiss my ass,” Alexander mumbled as he gathered his papers,”but sure. I won’t kill him on national television. Can I go now?”

 

“Oui,” Lafayette chirped, still bouncing as he turned on his heels. “Au revoir,  _ Alexandre _ !” 

 

Alexander climbed into his car and set about getting through DC during rush hour, a mammoth task on its own without worrying about the twenty thousand other things he had to deal with. Philip was coming home for springbreak soon, and Angie was stressing about college, even though she had taken the early admission to William and Mary months ago. Alexander had whined about it for days (“That’s Jefferson’s school, you can’t go there!” “Alexander shut up.”), but Angie had her mind set, and was as stubborn as her father. He stopped at a grocery store on the way to pick up what Eliza needed before finally pulling into the driveway about an hour after he left the office. 

 

He walked through the door into the foyer, dumping his bags and shoes on the floor.

 

“Put them in the closet Alexander!” Eliza called from the kitchen. Alexander huffed, bending to grab the shoes and pulling on the closet door.

 

“And put yourself in it while you’re at it!” The kitchen erupted in giggles, and he heard AJ groan. He walked into the room to find Eliza at the stove and Angelica, AJ, Peggy, and an unfamiliar woman who he assumed was Peggy’s girlfriend seated around the island in the middle of the kitchen. All were giggling madly, save AJ, who just looked awkward surrounded by four women. Angie was nowhere to be found, presumably at her friend’s house.

 

“I’m afraid I’m going to let you down on that one Pegs,” Alexander said, opening the fridge to grab a beer. “I’ve been out of the closet for way too long.”

 

“Daaad.” AJ groaned again. 

 

“AJ he makes more gay jokes than I do, and that’s saying something.” This time it’s Peggy, who is sitting closest to Eliza with her arm around the new girl. “Alex, this is Maria.”

 

“Hey Alex. I can call you that right? I mean, you are the treasury secretary and all.”

 

“Yeah, of course. Alex is fine.” Maria was beautiful, red lipstick, cat eyes, honeyed skin, and curly, chocolate brown hair. Frankly, it was no wonder Peggy had fallen for her. 

 

“AJ move!” It was Eliza, carrying a pot of pasta that she had just taken off the stove. AJ scrambled off the bar stool he had moved in front of the sink. 

 

“Where’s Angie?” asked Alexander, stealing some cheese from a bowl on the counter. Angelica slapped his hand away. 

 

“She’s at a friend’s. Homework, she said,” replied Eliza. “She should be home any time now though. She said she’d be back for dinner. AJ could you set the table?”

 

AJ grumbled, but said nothing as he laid plates around the dining room table.

 

Angie does turn up, running through the door five minutes later to join them at the table, where they all took turns grilling Maria about her life, as was customary for every Schuyler (and Hamilton for that matter) significant other. Maria, as it turned out, was a veterinarian who did some freelance art on the side, and she and Peggy had met when Peggy had brought in her cat George Washington (it was a long story, mostly involving too much alcohol and Lafayette). Maria and Angie hit it off immediately, bonding over a mutual love of animals and Peggy’s cat. 

 

Alexander found himself on the receiving end of one of AJ’s rants about the debate team as they brought out the ice cream, specifically about Jefferson’s youngest daughter, Lucy. 

 

“I swear, she’s just like her dad. She’s snarky and pompous and she never shuts up,” AJ complained. “ _ And _ she dyes her hair obnoxious colors even though it’s against dress code for both school and debate.” Alexander smirked. 

 

“Since when are you one for following the rules AJ? I distinctly remember when you filled an entire locker with shaving cream just to prove a point. It’s a wonder you’re still on debate, or in school for that matter.” 

 

“Dad that’s not the point. It’s the principle of the thing. She only gets away with it because she’s Jefferson’s kid. I get no special favors even though I’m your kid.” He glanced at Alexander. “Minus the shaving cream.”

 

“AJ literally everyone at that school is the child of someone insanely rich, you included. Everyone gets away with something because we are the ones paying the tuition. Lucy’s is that she gets to dye her hair.” AJ huffed again, carrying the ice cream into the dining room. Alexander grinned to himself. He had long suspected AJ’s crush on Lucy, ever since he’d seen them at a debate match. Sure they had argued, but when they had to team up they were an unstoppable force. And it helped that he saw his son making eyes at her when she wasn’t looking. Whatever he thought of Jefferson, his three daughters were brilliant, and great kids to boot. 

 

He joined the rest of the family in the dining room, pretending not to notice AJ piling a good two servings of mint chip on his plate, earning himself a dirty look from Eliza. 

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Angelica, Peggy, and Maria left around nine at the insistence of Eliza.

 

“The kids have school tomorrow,” she said as she escorted them out the door. “And I’m beat to hell with this adoption case I’m working with. Go, go.” She shooed them out and went to curl up beside Alex on the couch, Angie having retreated upstairs and AJ playing x-box in the basement. Alex turned on Scandal. 

 

“It’s not accurate you know,” he mumbled into her shoulder. She groaned and shoved him into a pillow.

 

“Shut  _ up _ Alex. You do this every time we watch it. And you turned it on in the first place.” 

 

The doorbell rang about halfway through the show, startling Alex so badly that he flipped a pillow off the couch. 

 

“I’ll get it,” he said, only slightly pink. He pulled himself off the couch and walked over to the door. 

 

“Who’s even ringing my doorbell at nine-thirty anyway?” he mumbled. He unlocked it and pulled it open. “He-” He stopped short.

 

Standing on his doorstep was a young woman, no more than twenty-five, with tan skin spattered with freckles and sea green eyes. Her dark auburn curls were tied in a messy bun, and she looked absolutely exhausted, dark circles under her eyes. Aside from the hair, she was a spitting image of-

 

“Are you,” she scrabbled at the papers in her arms,”Alexandre ‘amilton?” Her accent was a thick French, shaking with nerves. Alex looked her up and down, completely in shock. There was no way. But here she was, on his doorstep, looking exactly like her father.

 

“Frances?” 

  
  
  
  



	2. Vieux Souvenirs et de Nouveaux Visages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex explains the girl on the doorstep...

Frances looked a bit confused at being recognized so quickly, clearly expecting to have to explain herself.

 

“Oui, I mean, yes. Yes I am. Frances Laurens.” She extended her hand from under the coat and papers in her arms, which Alex shook, still shocked. Frances stood awkwardly in front of the door, looking unsure as to what to say next. She settled for digging into the duffle bag at her feet, pulling out a manila folder and handing it to Alex.

 

“Alexander!” Eliza called from the living room. “Who is it?” Alex seemed to realize that they’d been standing in the doorway for a good two minutes.

 

“It’s.” He paused. “Someone,” he finished. “Grab your stuff and come in,” he told Frances, who grabbed her bags and followed him. Eliza was standing up in the living room, looking surprised that Alex had just let a complete stranger into their house.

 

“Who’s this?” she asked again. Frances shifted uncomfortably.

 

“Frances Laurens, Madame,” she said, sort of shrinking back. Eliza noticed, and immediately turned on her ‘mom’ persona.

 

“Honey you look exhausted. Come on and sit down.” She gestured to the couch next to her, and Frances gratefully accepted.

 

“Merci, thank you.”

 

"Voulez-vous quelque chose à boire?" Frances seemed startled by the sudden French from Eliza.

 

"Juste un pue d'eau, si vous plait. Merci beaucoup." Eliza nodded and vanished into the kitchen, soon returning with a glass of ice water, which she handed to Frances. 

 

"If you ever need to, you can speak French. Alex is fluent, and I'm pretty good, but a little rusty."

 

"Thank you very much, Madame."

 

“Absolutely no problem. And you can call me Eliza, honey. Alexander, sit down. Let’s talk. Who is Frances? You obviously know her, and there’s obviously a reason why she’s here.”

 

“She’s-” Alex stopped. How did he describe Frances? As a friend was out of the question. He hadn’t seen her since she was a year old. He settled for ripping off the band-aid, as it was all going to come out anyway. “She’s my daughter.”

 

“She’s your daughter?” Eliza looked utterly bewildered, clearly looking for a family resemblance and finding none.

 

“Well, not biologically. But, technically, yes.”

 

They sat in silence for a bit, unsure of what to say, before the silence was broken by Eliza.

 

“Well there’s obviously a story here, Alex. Care to enlighten me?”

Alex took a deep breath, but was interrupted by Angie appearing at the top of the stairs.

 

“Dad, what’s happening? Who is that?”

 

“Angie I’ll tell you in the morning go to bed.”

 

“Dad-”

 

“Go!” Angie huffed on her way up the stairs, and they heard her door click shut

 

“Anyway. So…” Alex trailed off a bit. “So back when I was in college, Betsey, you know the friend I told you about, John Laurens?”

 

“Yes. You haven’t mentioned him in years, but yes.”

 

“Well, he wasn’t just my friend, he was my boyfriend.” Alex paused, clearly drudging up old memories. “We met the first class of freshman year and we got together that Halloween. We were together for a year before we got an apartment, and we wanted to get married. But of course it was 1992, and it was hard to be out at all, and it was illegal. So we just lived together through most of college.” Eliza, of course, knew all this, save for the boyfriend part, so she looked unfazed. But there was still one thing, and she was sitting on the couch next to Alex.

 

“So where does Frances come into this?”

 

“Well, that year there was a case in New York that allowed a gay couple to adopt, and we decided to try our luck, because that was something that John wanted so badly. And we found this lovely girl who’d be our surrogate, Martha Manning. Honestly, it was a miracle that it all panned out, because we were in college and we were a same-sex couple. But it did, and Frances was born in the second semester of our junior year.”

 

Eliza looked at Frances, who seemed to want to verify the story.

 

“This is all true,” she said. “My father told me the full story a few years ago.”

 

“So what happened? Obviously something did, because Frances has a French accent.”

 

“Well.” Alex shifted a bit on the couch. “John and I got into a huge fight at the end of senior year, when Frances was a year old. He broke it off and took Frances with him and threatened to sue my ass off for full custody if I didn’t give it up. He didn’t give me any contact information, and I never knew where he went, until Lafayette came back from France a few years ago and said that he’d met John, and he’d told him to tell me that Frances was doing well, if I wanted to know. That was the first I’d heard from him in nineteen years.” His voice cracked, and tears sprang to his eyes, overwhelmed.

 

They sat in silence yet again, until Eliza broke it.

 

“Why didn’t you ever tell me, Alex?” Alex sniffed and wiped his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry Frances,” he said. “I know this is a bit strange. I’m basically a complete stranger.”

 

“It’s fine,” she said. “I just didn’t expect this. I didn’t think that you’d recognize me.”

 

“How could I not recognize you? You look exactly like John, it’s uncanny.”

 

“Alex.” It was Eliza. “You’re avoiding. Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“Because it was a long time ago, and it wasn’t relevant to our relationship. He hurt me. He took our daughter, and he never talked to me again.” He fell silent.

 

“Alex.” Eliza clearly didn’t know what to say. Frances shifted.

 

“I think,” she said softly, “that my father regretted everything that happened. At least he sounded like it, when he told me. He said that I should be the one to decide if I wanted to see you, but I was nineteen and still in school. And I never had a good reason,” she paused, “until now.” She pointed to the manilla folder in Alex’s hand, and he opened it to look.

 

_Le Denier Testament de John William Laurens…_

 

“No.”

 

“Alex.”

 

“No!”

 

“Alex, what’s wrong?”

 

Alex quickly read through, before looked up from the folder to meet Eliza’s eyes, even as his own welled with tears. Frances had tears in hers as well.

  
“John’s dead. He was shot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA I will be using google translate for some of this story. I can get by (and that's generous), but I need google for some help. And I don't know anything about French wills so I'm just going with a classic, sue me. 
> 
> I'm not writing accents anymore y'all get the point. And I can't do dialogue. I'm a mess.
> 
> French Translations
> 
> Merci - Thank You  
> Voulez-vous quelque chose à boire? - do you want something (anything) to drink  
> Juste un pue d'eau, si vous plait. Merci beaucoup - just some water please. thanks a lot  
> Le Dernier Testament - the last will and testament (I'm not entirely sure on this one) 
> 
>  
> 
> As always, tumblr is @alexanderhammyton


	3. Une Perte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frances explains. Alexander remembers.

 

_ February, 1992 _

 

_ “We should have a baby.” Alex looked up from his book. _

 

_ “What?”  _

 

_ John flopped down on to the bed and folded his legs, leaning against the headboard.  _

 

_ “We should have a baby. If we can’t get married, we can do this. We know how much we love each other.” _

 

_ “My dear, dear Laurens,” Alex said, “I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but neither of us have the capability to have a child, even if we did decide to.” _

 

_ “Oh shut the hell up,” John groaned, snuggling into Alex’s shoulder. “You know what I mean. There was that case that I just read about where that lesbian couple was allowed to adopt, so why don’t we give it a shot?” Alex dog-eared his book. _

 

_ “Babe. I love you. But how would we do this? We are in college, we are very gay, and I’m pretty sure that case was a fluke. Who’d be our surrogate, or who would give us their baby?” _

 

_ “Well I want to have a biological kid. It’s always been a dream of mine. I feel like we’d be able to find someone. Attitudes are changing, you know.” _

 

_ “I know, babe. But still. We are in college. How would we take care of a baby, with our classes and stuff? Babies aren’t exactly low maintenance.”  _

 

_ “We can talk to the counselors and rearrange our classes, and once they get older we can take them to class. Please, Alex. Can we just entertain the idea? If it doesn’t work it doesn’t work, but you could talk to someone in the pre-law advising office if they know a good lawyer, and I can talk to the social work people to maybe find a surrogate. I really want this, and I love you.” _

 

_ “How much do you love me?” Alex asked, poking John in the belly.  _

 

_ “Oh, I don’t know…This much.” John held out his hands. Alex snorted and pulled John on top of him. _

 

_ “Quit being nasty. I know you don’t love me just for my dick.” _

 

_ “Well what else would I love you for?”  _

 

_ “My obvious caffeine addiction, my eye bags the size of Texas, and my lack of a gag reflex.” This time John was the one who snorted, digging his hands into Alex’s sides and making him squeal. _

 

_ “Now who’s being nasty?” _ __   
  


_ “You love it shut up.” _

 

_ John smirked and leaned down. _ __   
  


_ “I do.” _

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“It was a freak thing,” Frances was saying. “He was mugged, when he was out walking back to work from lunch. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, the police said. They caught the guy, luckily.”

 

Alexander only barely registered all this. He was still staring at the the words at the top of the page.  _ Le Dernier, _ the last. It was jarringly final, he thought.

 

“Alex? Alexander?” Eliza shook his arm and he jumped. 

 

“Hmm? Oh, I’m sorry. Frances,” he said as he turned to look at her, “I am so sorry.”

 

“There was nothing that you could have done,” she replied. “Like I said, it was a freak thing.”

 

Alex sniffed. “So I assume he’s left everything to you?” he asked Frances. She shook her head, before reaching into a pocket in her bag and pulling out a small box.

 

“Actually, no.” She handed the box to him.

 

Nestled inside the box was a golden ring, looking freshly polished, save for a worn down engraving on one side.  _ Mi Querido Corazón. _ My dear heart. Tears welled in Alex’s eyes all over again, the full brunt of the situation finally hitting him full force. Their rings, emblazoned with an endearment that Alex would whisper between them when they lay curled around each other. When he had first said it, John didn’t understand him. John didn’t speak Spanish. His father had seen to that, so he had started taking Spanish classes their sophmore year. Alex still had his ring, buried in a box in his closet, almost forgotten.

 

A squeeze around his hand brought him back to Earth. 

 

“I’m sorry, Alex.” Eliza said it quietly. Alexander sighed, shaking his head.

 

“I couldn’t have done anything, Betsey. He didn’t speak to me for twenty-one years. I don’t know why I’m like this.”

 

“You loved him,” Eliza said simply. “You loved him and you always loved him. It’s as simple as that. So let yourself be sad, Alex. And offer your daughter somewhere to stay for however long she needs.”

 

“Oh of course. How could I forget.” He looked at Frances. “Do you have anywhere to stay, because we have a spare room that we can give you, if you need it. It’s getting late.”

 

“Oh, I’ve arranged to stay at Monsieur Lafayette’s apartment, until school starts and I get my own place.”   
  


“School?” Alex was surprised.

 

“Yes. I was accepted to Georgetown Medical School, which is why I was supposed to be coming to the States in the first place, but then my father was shot last month, and it was just easier to pack up and move here permanently. Monsieur Lafayette had already offered his apartment before...you know.”

 

“Just stay with us tonight, Frances,” said Eliza. “You look exhausted, and it’s getting late. I wouldn’t like sending you out at this time of night.”

 

“Well I wouldn’t want to intrude-”

 

“Nonsense! You’re family, and I’m sure that Lafayette’s apartment will still be there tomorrow. I’ll fix up the downstairs guest room. Come on.” Eliza motioned for Frances to follow her.

 

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Alexander.”

 

“Goodnight Frances.”

 

Frances picked up her bags and followed Eliza downstairs. Alexander made his way up to his closet, finding a box in the back corner and digging through it. He pulled out a small, leather-bound box, in the exact same shape as the one in his hand. He opened it slowly, looking at the identical gold band, the identical inscription. 

 

_ Mi Querido Corazόn. _

 

Alexander finally let himself cry.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay I'm an angst machine apparently yikes.
> 
> I don't speak Spanish, but I have some faith in google translate. All the translations are in the text, so I'm not going to put them here.
> 
> As always, tumblr is @alexanderhammyton

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I've had this story bouncing around my head for maybe two months and just now got to writing it down. I'll try to update at least every Sunday, but they may be more frequent depending on my schedule. I suck at summaries I'm sorry. 
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr @alexanderhammyton 
> 
>  
> 
> (so historically Jefferson only had two daughters who lived more than a few years but for the sake of this AU I'm having him have three daughters, Lucy, Polly, and Patsy. Also, the Hamilton's had eight kids but I'm just going with the first three)


End file.
